Wheels of Change: Encouraging Carpooling and Cycling at Our Offices

Our workplaces in Australia sit within cities known for car dependence, sprawling suburbs, and a growing appetite for greener transport. From the high-rise districts of Sydney and Melbourne to the industrial corridors of Brisbane and Perth, our teams face long commutes, expensive parking, and stop-start traffic that eats into family time. As a company rooted in agriculture, we understand the value of a steady routine and the discipline of showing up. That same discipline is now helping us rethink how staff reach our offices, packhouses, and regional depots.

Across our operations, we are rolling out programs that make lift sharing and pedal-powered commutes a realistic option rather than a novelty. These efforts sit alongside the broader Fresh Del Monte CSR commitments to protected land and community development, because a sustainable business cannot ignore the daily journeys of its workforce. The aim is simple: cut commuting emissions, ease pressure on household budgets, and build a culture where active transport feels normal.

Australia brings specific conditions to the table. Summers can be punishing for anyone on a bike, distances between suburbs are famously long, and public transport networks vary sharply from city to city. Add in rising fuel and parking costs, and even modest changes to commuting habits deliver real environmental and financial benefits. Our approach is built around listening to what employees need, then removing the friction that keeps them in their cars.

We do not pretend to have all the answers, but the early results are encouraging enough to share. What follows is a practical look at how the schemes work, what we are measuring, and the local hurdles that keep our teams honest.

Why Commuting Choices Matter for Our Operations

Transport remains one of the largest sources of indirect emissions tied to any business, and a food company with farms, ports, and offices across the country is no exception. Every vehicle that arrives at our sites carrying a single driver represents fuel, time, and carbon that could be reduced through smarter coordination. Encouraging staff to share rides or cycle to work is a practical lever we can pull, and it complements our work to protect water, soil, and biodiversity.

The benefits extend beyond emissions. Workers who share a commute often build stronger working relationships, while those who cycle regularly report better sleep, lower stress, and fewer sick days. In regional hubs like our Gatton facility in Queensland or our distribution centre near Werribee in Victoria, these everyday health gains matter as much as the carbon savings. We also see the programs helping us attract younger talent who increasingly ask about sustainability credentials during interviews.

Building a Carpool Culture at Our Facilities

Carpooling works best when it is easy, predictable, and socially rewarding. We have introduced internal ride-matching tools at our larger Australian sites, allowing staff who live in the same postcode or travel along similar corridors to find one another without awkwardness. At our Sydney headquarters, a dedicated lift-sharing board in the staff café lists regular routes, drop-off times, and a phone-friendly sign-up form. In Melbourne, where trams and trains already take pressure off the road network, we have aligned carpool meeting points with key stations such as Southern Cross and Caulfield.

Recognition plays a part too. Teams that hit a 70 percent shared-ride rate in any quarter are profiled in our internal newsletter, and the company covers breakfast for the carpool group on the first Friday of the following month. The approach leans on the Australian appreciation of a fair go and a good yarn over a flat white, rather than top-down rules. The result is a culture where offering a colleague a lift feels like a normal part of the working week.

Supporting Staff Who Choose Two Wheels

Bike-to-work schemes require more than a few bike racks and a good intentions email. We have invested in secure end-of-trip facilities at our Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth offices, including sheltered parking, lockers, and showers that are cleaned daily during the warmer months. The investment matters in a country where summer temperatures can climb past 38 degrees, and where arriving drenched in sweat is a real barrier to participation.

To help staff feel confident on the road, we partner with local cycling advocacy groups to run beginner sessions and on-route safety briefings. In Sydney, this includes guided rides along the harbour bridge cycleway, while in Melbourne we use the Capital City Trail as a training route for new commuters. We also maintain a small fleet of shared e-bikes at our largest sites, which has proven popular with staff who live too far to ride the whole way but want to skip the final stretch from the station.

Designing the Right Incentives and Rewards

Stickers and slogans only go so far. Our incentive framework offers tangible benefits, including a fortnightly public transport allowance, a tax-effective novated lease arrangement for bicycles, and a modest cash bonus for any staff member who logs more than 20 commuting trips by bike or shared vehicle in a calendar month. The structure reflects the way Australian workplaces increasingly blend financial reward with purpose-driven engagement.

We also link the program to our broader community work. For every 1,000 verified active-commute journeys logged across the company, we fund the planting of native shade trees at a partner school or community garden. The trees provide cooler routes for future cyclists and give employees a visible outcome to point to, beyond the small changes they are making in their own routines.

Working with Local Councils and Cycling Networks

No employer can build cycle paths on their own, which is why we work closely with state and local government partners. In Queensland, we have contributed feedback to Brisbane City Council's active transport strategy, particularly around the Riverwalk extension and improved lighting on key commuter corridors. In Western Australia, we are part of a business roundtable advising the City of Perth on its expanding bike network, including connections to our Canning Vale depot.

These conversations matter because cycling infrastructure in Australia has historically lagged behind European cities, and businesses are often the loudest voice calling for change. By sharing anonymised commuting data with councils, we help them justify investment in safer intersections, better signage, and dedicated lanes. The approach is unglamorous but it gets results over time, and it positions our company as a constructive partner rather than a passive beneficiary of public infrastructure.

Measuring the Real Impact on Emissions

We track a small set of clear metrics: total kilometres shifted from single-occupancy vehicles, number of active commuting trips per quarter, and the resulting reduction in Scope 3 emissions linked to staff travel. The data is collected through a simple app-based survey, with no personal identifiers attached, and is reviewed by our sustainability committee every three months. Numbers are published in our annual report, alongside progress on tree planting and protected land.

Honest reporting means acknowledging where the program is working and where it is not. In some regional sites, distances are simply too long for cycling to be a realistic option, and carpool uptake has been slower than we would like. We share these gaps openly because pretending a program is perfect would undermine the trust we are building with employees, customers, and the communities that host our operations.

Overcoming Heat, Distance and Other Local Hurdles

The Australian climate throws up specific challenges that programs in cooler markets never face. Heatwaves can make a mid-summer bike commute unsafe, and sudden downpours in Brisbane and Darwin have caught more than a few riders unprepared. We have responded by funding high-visibility wet-weather gear for all participating staff, adjusting flexible start times during severe heat events, and guaranteeing that no one is penalised for choosing a car on a Code Red day.

Distance is the other stubborn barrier. For staff in outer suburbs of Melbourne or Perth, a full bike commute is unrealistic. The most effective response has been building strong links with public transport, including negotiated corporate rates with train operators in New South Wales and Victoria. Many of our best stories come from staff who cycle to the station, catch the train, and walk the final kilometre, combining modes in a way that suits their household and their health.

Practical Steps for Employees Joining the Ride

• Register your usual route and preferred schedule on the internal ride-matching platform so colleagues travelling your way can find you.
• Book a free safety check or beginner ride through our partnership with local cycling groups before your first commute.
• Claim the fortnightly public transport allowance or novated bike lease through payroll to reduce the upfront cost of gear.
• Log every active-commute trip in the staff app, even short ones, so the data we share with councils reflects real activity.

The next step for anyone who has not yet joined the scheme is straightforward: check the staff intranet this week, find the active transport coordinator for your site, and book a fifteen-minute chat about which option suits the route home. From there, the path to a first shared ride or cycle commute is shorter than it looks.